


After the Dust Settles

by 42hrb



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Immediately Post-Canon, M/M, POV Stiles, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 13:05:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12190530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/42hrb/pseuds/42hrb
Summary: Immediately after the big bad is defeated Stiles wants to be with people he loves. He goes looking for Derek.





	After the Dust Settles

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't beta-ed. I'm also a garbage person. 
> 
> Based on a ficlet I posted [here](https://exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com/post/165707754607/after-the-dust-settles-stiles-sees-jackson-and)

After the dust settles Stiles sees Jackson and Ethan standing close together, fingers intertwined. He sees Scott and Malia hugging, Theo and Liam with their heads close together. His dad, Melissa, and Argent huddled together, arms around each other. Everyone is with the people they love, everyone but him. 

He doesn’t go looking for Lydia, that thought never crosses his mind. 

“Derek?” Stiles says quietly. He saw the look of horror on Derek’s face when he had to face the Jennifer shaped thing, he knows that Derek has trauma that runs deep, they both do if he’s being honest with himself. 

Derek looks up at him from his seat on the floor and tilts his head to the side in confusion, “Why aren’t you in with everyone celebrating? We won.”

“Why aren’t  _ you _ ,” Stiles counters, sinking to the floor next to Derek, close enough that their thighs are touching. He takes a deep breath before he flips his hand over and sets it palm up on Derek’s knee. 

They’d had moments before tonight, moments when Stiles was in high school, the moment when Stiles thought Derek was going to die, the moment when Derek  _ left _ . But more recently they’d had moments like Derek coming back. Stiles tipping Derek off about the raid, saving each other there, saving each other again. 

But it went beyond saving each other’s lives, since Derek and Stiles had connected in North Carolina there had been a charge between them. They hadn’t talked about it on their drive across the country, they hadn’t had time to talk about it once they got to Beacon Hills. And here they were now, finally with the time to talk and all Stiles wanted to do was hold Derek’s hand. 

For a beat Derek does nothing, but then he takes Stiles hand in his and links their fingers together. Stiles let out a breath when Derek touched him and leaned his shoulder against Derek’s. It felt right to be sitting here with him, it felt safe.  

“I didn’t really feel like celebrating, Beacon Hills isn’t somewhere that makes me feel like I won anything,” Derek admits quietly, so quietly that if Stiles hadn’t been inches from him he’d had missed it.

“I get that,” Stiles nods, not taking his eyes off of Derek, “If it weren’t for, dad I’d never come back.”

“What about Scott, Lydia?” Derek asks. They’re even closer now, Derek’s breath is warm on Stiles’ face. Stiles shrugs and Derek says, “If it wasn’t for you I’d never come back. If you hadn’t asked I’d still be on the run somewhere in South America.”

And then there isn’t any space between them. The kiss is soft and chaste. There’s time later for more kisses, for heat and passion, this kiss is gentle and healing. Derek’s free hand came up to cup Stiles’ cheek, Stiles squeezed Derek’s fingers on the hand they were holding. 

“I’m glad you finally figured it out,” Lydia says and they break apart, hands still linked, “It took you long enough.”

“I-” Stiles starts, but Lydia cuts him off before he can apologize, though he isn’t sure what he’s apologizing for, he and Lydia had never really been dating, they still hadn’t figured it out. If he really thought about it, they had both avoided talking about it, like they knew that the end result would be that they weren’t going to end up together. 

“I’m glad you’re happy Stiles, you’re my best friend, that’s all I ever wanted,” Lydia says and smiled at them. It was a real smile, the same kind she had had when she hugged Jackson, the kind Stiles hadn’t seen in months, “I think I’m going to go find my mom. We can finally start to plan our cross country road trip to get all my stuff to MIT.”

“Hey Lydia,” Stiles calls out, standing up and squeezing Derek’s hand before he runs down the hall to Lydia,  “Thank you.”

“See you around Stiles,” She says, hugging him tightly for a moment before turning and walking away, her heels clacking as she does. 

“I’m starving,” Stiles says finally, walking back down the hall to where Derek is still sitting. He extends a hand to Derek, who accepts it and allows Stiles to help him to his feet, then he doesn’t let go. 

“I could eat,” Derek smiles and Stiles thinks he could spend all day looking at that smile, unhindered and genuine. He thought about all the times he had seen Derek smile and could count on one hand the times that it had been real and could only count one that looked as light as the one he wore now. 

They hold hands all the way to the Jeep, they even hold hands through the argument over whose car to take, then they hold hands all the way to the 24 hour diner in Beacon Valley. 

They only stop so that they can eat because “As much as I like holding your hand I like pancakes more.”

“So romantic,” Derek laughs, eating his burger, never taking his eyes off Stiles. 

Maybe they hadn’t had a great start to their relationships all those years ago, but as they had gotten to know each other they had earned each other's respect, and from there they had built a friendship, they had learned that life was actually much better with the other in it. It had lead them here to this moment. 

Stiles grins around a mouthful of pancakes and Derek rolls his eyes. It isn’t  perfect, he’s lived long enough to know that perfect moments don’t exist. But for now, this is enough. 

They survived. They could leave Beacon Hills and know that it was still standing. They could sit here in this shitty 24 hour diner and laugh about the fact that Stiles was kind of harboring a fugitive,  _ again _ . 

Derek threw some money on the table and they walked out of the diner with their fingers linked. They didn’t drive back to Beacon Hills right away, instead they headed toward the coast. The sun was about to rise on another day, and they were starting it together. 

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](exhuastedpigeon.tumblr.com)


End file.
